1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,079 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show. 5 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: My name is Matt. Our colleague Nol is not here 6 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: right now, but we'll be returning shortly. They called me Ben. 7 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: We're joined as always with our super producer Paul Mission 8 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: controlled decade. Most importantly, you are you, You are here, 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,879 Speaker 1: and that makes this the stuff they don't want you 10 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: to know. Uh, Matt, quick check in. We did something 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: that's kind of unusual for us after all these years. 12 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: We we took a holiday break and uh, you know, 13 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: I think a lot of our fellow conspiracy realists know this. 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: But you and Noel and Paul and I see each 15 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: other on a pretty consistent basis. Like during the pandemic, 16 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: we were probably the only non family members we talked 17 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: to most of the time. Right, Yeah, I'm yeah, on 18 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,119 Speaker 1: a consistent basis for sure. Yeah, did you have adventures? 19 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: That's what I'm getting at because I'm used to like 20 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: us giving each other weird, sometimes relevant, sometimes just funny 21 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: updates like four hours I don't have anything big. I 22 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: got a Christmas tree in my house already. It's not real, 23 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: it's cheap and it works. You know, you might like this. 24 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: I can't remember I ever told you, but for several 25 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,559 Speaker 1: periods throughout my life, I've put up a Christmas tree 26 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: and then just left it up all year because it 27 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: looks nice, you know, not even a religious bent, but 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: I think it. I think it brightens up a room. Yeah, 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: especially for everybody looking at your house at night. There 30 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: it is. Yeah. I want I want people to say, 31 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: those folks are too wholesome for a break in. Let's go. 32 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: Let's go somewhere else, somewhere that looks less Christmas. Ee. 33 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: Let us know if that theory works for you, folks. Uh, 34 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: not going anywhere with that, just checking in today's episode, 35 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: just trying. We're trying to start off in a good spot. 36 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 1: And I thought what better place for to uh to 37 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: space campbell Um to start with than saying, folks, space 38 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: is amazing. It's just it's the best. It's the best thing. Yeah. 39 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: It's um real cold up there, not a lot of heat. Uh, 40 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: it's um pretty empty like on the whole right, But 41 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,399 Speaker 1: the stuff that is inside the space is killer. It's 42 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: worth your time. Uh, and you know we're in there too, 43 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: which is kind of cool. That's true. That's true. Uh. 44 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: Life is one big escape room. You can look at 45 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: it that way, right, and everybody should be on the 46 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: same team for the human mission to expand, right, That's 47 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: one thing that all human civilization has wanted to do. 48 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: We talked about this fascination in a previous episode on 49 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: Mysteries of the Moon or I Think We Want with 50 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: the title is the Moon messing with Me? Or something 51 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: like that. The answer is probably yes, but maybe not 52 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: in the ways you think. Uh. But as a result 53 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: of everybody or every large government wanting to go to space, 54 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: wanting to explore the furthest reaches of the map, we 55 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: can say that despite the big emptiness, as you accurately 56 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: pointed out, Matt, despite that local space around planet Earth 57 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: is crowded. It looks like a horder planet if you 58 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: saw it from far away as you listen to today 59 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: a show, folks. I think it was in September. One 60 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: of the best estimates we could find there are at 61 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: least four thousand, five hundred and fifty human made satellites 62 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: orbiting the plant that doesn't count the Black Night satellite, 63 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: which other bag of badgers doesn't count the moon, and 64 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: those are those are just the confirmed ones, right, those 65 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: are the ones that we can go. You know, there 66 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: was an official launch and they said they had that 67 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: satellite on it. Man it you know, supposedly went up. 68 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: What happens when there are unconfirmed satellites? So I wonder 69 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: what what that number travels to. I was thinking about 70 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: this been if you just in mad, if you close 71 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: your eyes unless you're driving, don't do that. If you 72 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,119 Speaker 1: close your eyes and you imagine the point of view 73 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: from one of these satellites that's orbiting the Earth and 74 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: you just look down. If you may have seen spy 75 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: satellite imagery before, or maybe on some Discovery Channel thing, 76 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: you saw a few from space at that at that height, right, 77 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 1: And if you imagine that singular point of view, and 78 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: then you multiply that by four thousand, five hundred times, 79 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: it's just weird to think about the number of potential 80 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: p o V s there are from above. Not not 81 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: that all of the satellites have even you know, uh 82 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: technology that would allow them to see right, any kind 83 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: of like visual technology, but still it's creepy to think 84 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: about it is. And this goes to one of those 85 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: questions that are you know, we're we're a no dumb 86 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: questions show. Uh. And there there's one question that I 87 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: think a lot of people have been afraid to ask, 88 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: which is, with all these thousands of things in orbit 89 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: around the same planet, how come they're not all crashing 90 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: into each other continually? Right? It seems it seems like 91 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: a bizarre string of coincidences. Uh. The The answer is 92 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: kind of reassuring or terrifying. Space is just really really 93 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: big at that scale. Satellites are infinitestimal in size. They 94 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: don't have the power, uh too, they don't have a 95 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: lot of them don't have the power to alter their orbit. 96 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: That's a big thing. They may have the ability to 97 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: alter their orientation, but they can't all of a sudden 98 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: pick a different ring upon which they circle the Earth. 99 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: And that's where you'd get into trouble. That's where it 100 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: gets interesting. Yes, uh. And there are dead you could 101 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: call them dead man made objects in space, like um 102 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: old rocket bodies in low Earth orbit. But the thing 103 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: is a lot of these have predictable orbits. So when 104 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: you're launching a satellite. You can do the math and say, okay, 105 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: here's how our satellite doesn't hit anything. Or you could 106 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: say here's how our satellite can hit stuff. Or you 107 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: could do what both the US and China have done 108 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 1: and say, let's just shoot one from the ground. Hold 109 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: my beer. I want to show those folks across the 110 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: pond something cool, right, yeah, yeah. Every time you send 111 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: something up there, you're threading a needle yum, and sometimes 112 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: you want that needle to make impact. That's weird to 113 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: think about, and you know, it's it's so costly. We're 114 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: probably gonna get into this, but it's so costly to 115 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: shoot something that's nice and heavy, you know, off of 116 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: the surface of the Earth and into orbit. Um, it 117 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: would be it would make a lot of sense to 118 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 1: have something that's just flying around up there or falling 119 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: around up there. I guess there is there any way 120 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: to say it that could maneuver and take something out 121 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: from above or from the side, right right, from any 122 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: given angle, right or inclination. Even. Yeah, the thing is 123 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: all right. If you are not a fan of astronomy, 124 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: if you don't work in a related field, then you're 125 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: probably not thinking of all these satellites too often. If 126 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: you're like most people in fact, statistically, you live in 127 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: some part of the world where the light pollution is 128 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: such that you can't really see a bunch of things right. 129 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: You see the Moon, you can see some particularly bright stars, 130 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: you might see planes and stuff, but you're not getting 131 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: a full panoramic view of the Milky Way. There's just 132 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: too much other interference between your eyes and the stuff 133 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: in space. But there are a lot of mysteries up there, 134 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: and closer than you might think. Today's episode is about 135 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: something that you and I have kept our eyes on 136 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: for quite some time, not too long ago, very recently, 137 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: in fact, a very an incredibly special extraordinary spacecraft successfully 138 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: landed it's sixth mission. It returned from nine eight days 139 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: in space more than two years uh with no pilot, 140 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: no crew on the ship. It's an unmanned craft called 141 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,719 Speaker 1: the X thirty seven B. And as we speak, well 142 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: learn about the history of this thing. As we speak, 143 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: no one in the public sphere knows what it was 144 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: doing up there, very event horizons, or how null pointed out. 145 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: To understand more about it, I think we have to 146 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: dive a little bit into the history. So here are 147 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,199 Speaker 1: the facts. It's an old idea. Oh yeah, the o 148 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:17,240 Speaker 1: tv V O t V Orbital Test Vehicle seven B. Yes, 149 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: it dates all the way back to n Yeah. Somebody 150 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: saw the matrix and they thought, oh, we need this. Um. 151 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: That's when NASA went to a company that we talked 152 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: about a lot on this show. They are, I mean, 153 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: they're an awesome company when it comes to creating new 154 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: powerful technology. Look company called Boeing, and NASA was like, hey, guys, 155 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: check it out. We want to build something. We think 156 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: you're the ones to do it. We want something called 157 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: an a L t V. This is this is also 158 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: known as an Approach and Landing test vehicle. What does 159 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: that mean? Oh, it can approach the Earth after doing 160 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: its thing, and it can land. It doesn't have to 161 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: crash into the ocean or you know, via parachute or whatever. 162 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,439 Speaker 1: This thing's got wheels and probably wings. Uh. And Second, 163 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: but most importantly for this episode today, they wanted to 164 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: make a vehicle that was based on the concept of 165 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle. You you you remember that one though, 166 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: the old STS space Shuttle missions from back in the day. 167 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: They wanted to build it just like that, but this 168 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,199 Speaker 1: one they want to make it smaller, and they want 169 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: to make it unmanned. No humans necessary on board. Yeah, right, 170 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: that's the trickiest part of successful space exploration. Humans were 171 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: not built for that. Humans are not built for that 172 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: environment and literally any shape form or fashion. So there, 173 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: it's kind of like the the old solution to the 174 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: Gordian Not right, let's let's solve the problem by eliminating 175 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: the problem to begin with. Right, So, oh, I thought 176 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: you were gonna say, just make to make the rope smaller. 177 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: So that's I like that. No, No, that's a good solution. 178 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: We should have been there. We should have been in 179 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: that meeting. Uh, the Gordian not meeting. All right, Well, 180 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: so what they said is we'll take out the trickiest element, 181 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:22,679 Speaker 1: the human elements on board, and we also originally they 182 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: wanted this thing to be small enough to fit inside 183 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: an orthodox space shuttle's cargo bay. So kind of like 184 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: the Decepticons was that the one guy turns into a 185 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: boom box and he's got a sidekick that turns into 186 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 1: a cassette tape his chest. I can't remember their name, 187 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: but it's like that. It's like a little baby shuttle 188 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: and Paul just let us know what it's called. Yes, 189 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: Mission Control came through with the facts it was sound 190 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: wave and sound wave was a decepticon. I believe Paul 191 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: has confirmed. Paul, Paul is your savor of the show 192 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: here today, man Fall. But yeah, yeah, it is really cute. 193 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: It was like a little, a little baby shuttle. Yeah, exactly. Now, 194 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: as as we know, that didn't end up being the case, right, 195 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: But we're talking about the development process. So NASA knew 196 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: they wanted this thing, this O t V, to have 197 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: a high degree of maneuverability, and they wanted it to 198 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: be reusable. One of the big differences between what we 199 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: think of when we think of space shuttles and what 200 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: we think of when we think of satellites is that 201 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: space shuttles can steer right, they can go places. Again, 202 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,439 Speaker 1: many satellites are just going to be in that predictable 203 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: pattern that was set for them, and they can futs 204 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: are alter a little bit, but you know where they're 205 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: going to be. Now, I just want to give a 206 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: concrete example of that exact thing, and it comes from 207 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: STS one, which occurred in it was the last official 208 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: Shuttle mission, and that NASA, I guess part took in 209 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: it was um a four person crew, so four human 210 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: beings that had to you know, they needed all the 211 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: things to make humans right. And they sent that thing up. 212 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: It went into orbit, stayed there for a minute, then 213 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: went in arrived at the International Space Station, and then 214 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: left back to orbit, then came back to Earth. So 215 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: it's just that maneuverability you're talking about. It It doesn't 216 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: just get launched directly to the place it has to 217 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: go to. Yeah, and there there's so much impressive math 218 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: that goes on behind the scenes. Those folks are true 219 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: rock stars of any of those endeavors. And early on 220 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,079 Speaker 1: NASA when they're talking with bullying about this type with 221 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: phantom works specifically, they wanted this craft, which they would 222 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: call the X thirty seven two rendezvous with satellites to 223 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: repair satellites in space. If you can make that happen 224 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: reliably without risking human lives, then you're looking at a 225 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: profound breakthrough, right, This could extend the lives of satellites too, 226 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 1: theoretically an infinite uh an infinite horizon. Oh yeah, Like 227 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: if you could just hot swap components as you know, 228 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 1: upgrades are available, that's incredible. I mean, you can just 229 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: think of the platforms you could create for satellites. Then 230 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: that like has a CPU that could be you know, 231 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: exchanged as as they get stronger or something like that. 232 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: That's yeah, that makes new better sensors whenever the next 233 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 1: gen comes out, refueling all kinds of really cool stuff. 234 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: You could turn every satellite into a ship of thesis, right, 235 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 1: but that's not really creepy. That's just a good idea 236 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: that's kind of difficult to pull off. It is difficult 237 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: to all. It becomes a little creepy when you think 238 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: about all the stuff that is up there, and if 239 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: you're NASA, you're only a part of you know, a 240 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: certain percentage of the things floating around, that's right, yeah, yeah, 241 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: And then you have to also start thinking of weird 242 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: things like jurisdiction, are there salvage rights? You know what 243 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: I mean? Like it gets weird. It does get very 244 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: weird very quickly. But it also avoids the enormous expense 245 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: you mentioned of actually getting stuff up off the ground 246 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: out of the gravity. Well, and you know, it would 247 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: be great for everybody's budget. Honestly, I didn't realize how 248 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: much Space Shuttle mission costs on average. Did you see 249 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,160 Speaker 1: that I saw a couple of stories. I want to hear. 250 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: What's what's the current scoop? The official the official sources 251 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: at NASA and the companies that actually launched the shuttles. 252 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: The average cost for a mission was around four hundred 253 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: and fifty million dollars. So every time him one is 254 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: launched up there and the US officially again officially launched 255 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty five of those missions. So oh wow, 256 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: that's a lot of money. It's a ton of money. 257 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: You know, you're doing the crossword and pen at that point, 258 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,960 Speaker 1: don't make mistakes. We're gonna pause here for a quick 259 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: word from our sponsors and we'll be right back with 260 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: more about the X thirty seven B. And we've returned, 261 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: so we know they came in with these pretty ambitious ideas. 262 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: And as anyone working on a group project can attest, 263 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: every concept goes through some degree of change from conception 264 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: and brainstorming to actually making the thing. It doesn't matter 265 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: if you're talking about art or literature, or music or 266 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: making a bridge, you know what I mean. The guy 267 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: who invented the little table that goes in the center 268 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: of pizza boxes, right, it's a really cool invention. They 269 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: probably went through several other iterations of the table, So 270 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: I'm only making that point to note that the changes 271 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,879 Speaker 1: that were made shouldn't be looked at as failures. They 272 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:20,959 Speaker 1: should be looked at as evolution. Right. So the changes 273 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: with the X thirty seven B that's the most famous 274 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: of these craft. Uh, they took a weird turn though, 275 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,439 Speaker 1: because let's see you said, NASA goes to Boeing and 276 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 1: Phantom Works. But by September of two thousand and four, 277 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,679 Speaker 1: the X thirty seven project is transferred away from NASA 278 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: to DARPA, which will be familiar to any long time 279 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: conspiracy realist Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Uncle Sam's mad 280 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: science department. So it goes to DARPA and then boom, 281 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: it gets classified. Yeah, and it stays classified when the 282 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: Force gets their hands in the in the cosmic cookie 283 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: jar and they run things for a while. And then, 284 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: as you remember, if you are based in the US, uh, 285 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: we recently came out with something called Space Force. Feel 286 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: free to laugh, but that's the real name. And Space 287 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: Force is not a nine nineties Saturday cartoon. It is 288 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: a real branch of the military and as of it's 289 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:28,959 Speaker 1: been at the helm of the X thirty seven project. 290 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 1: We know a little bit more about the timeline, like 291 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 1: how we got from that initial meeting to the actual 292 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: very creepy X thirty seven. Oh yes, it is a 293 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: Steve Correll vehicle available on Netflix though Space Force. Yeah. Um, 294 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 1: so we know that. DARPA. Once they got ahold of it, 295 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,120 Speaker 1: they were able to complete most of it, let's say, 296 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: building the actual vehicle itself, the what do we call 297 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:00,880 Speaker 1: it an a l TV And that was in two 298 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: thousand six. That's when they completed that part and they 299 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: were able to actually send that thing up, you know, 300 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 1: high into the sky. Um. They call it captive carry 301 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: and like that's when you take it up and then 302 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: you let it come back down. See if those wings 303 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: and wheels work. And they also ransom free flight tests 304 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: like can this thing actually be flown? Um? And those 305 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: seem to work out back in two thousand six, and 306 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: NASA's second goal, their orbital vehicle concept was never actually 307 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 1: built the way they wanted it originally, but it did 308 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:40,959 Speaker 1: serve as the inspiration, the thematic predecessor for the space 309 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: plane that today is called the X thirty seven B. 310 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: Right now, there are two operational X thirty seven b 311 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 1: s in the world. There might be more, uh in 312 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,199 Speaker 1: some stage of manufacture. There might be more hidden a 313 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: wave somewhere. We really don't know. We know about the 314 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: two that operated or are operating because you can see 315 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,920 Speaker 1: them in the sky. Uh. Darp it got to this 316 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 1: by creating. First, they created the X thirty seven A. 317 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: The X thirty seven A is a really badass looking glider. 318 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 1: It doesn't have a propulsion system. And I think a 319 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: lot of us here the phrase glider and immediately think 320 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: of just a paper airplane. That's you know, that's one 321 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: of the easiest gliders to make. But this is not that. 322 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: It's like calling a tiger a house cat, honestly, because 323 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: these are these are no fully awesome things, and glider 324 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,199 Speaker 1: technologies come a long way. But Matt, as you know, 325 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: we talked about this in the notes. I'm at least 326 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,359 Speaker 1: much more excited about the thing that was launching the glider, 327 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: which I did not know was a real thing. Oh yeah, 328 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: this guy, I've seen this thing before. It looks like 329 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: a glider itself to me, am I looking at the 330 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,720 Speaker 1: right thing you are. It's got the weird uh series 331 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:07,640 Speaker 1: of bubble looking like round window looking things. It's almost like, 332 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,640 Speaker 1: what's that kind of uh that kind of watercraft a catamaran, 333 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: like a triple thing like on I think of water World, 334 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: Folks think think of that guy's boat on water World. 335 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: This is like an airborne version of that. And you 336 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 1: can see where it can carry something down below it 337 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: and then it would just take it up into the 338 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:32,879 Speaker 1: sky and then drop it off wherever you wanted to go. 339 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:35,200 Speaker 1: I want to clarify something just because I think maybe 340 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: the way I said it was not the best. Um, 341 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: we're talking about all of these institutions that were in 342 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: charge of the X thirty seven program, let's say, the 343 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: development of this tech um and how it's changed hands 344 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of times. You have to remember that 345 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: the third party, no matter who in the U. S. 346 00:21:57,359 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 1: Government is controlling it, the third party building it is 347 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,680 Speaker 1: always the phantom works, right, So like it's just who 348 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 1: are the people in charge of the suits just changed? Right? Yeah? Exactly? 349 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: The work continued, Uh the word continuing. The budget went 350 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: from different organizations, right, That's kind of what changed. As 351 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 1: testing and development continues, we said, the Air Force gets 352 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: involved and they come out and they kind of do 353 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: that bender from Futurama thing. They say, we're gonna build 354 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: our own, our own creepy spacecraft. It's our own variant. 355 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: It's gonna we're gonna call it the X thirty seven 356 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: B because we're mad creative, and we're going to design 357 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: this for long, long space tracks. And what they meant 358 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: by long at that time was up to two hundred 359 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,479 Speaker 1: and seventy days in a row, which is still a 360 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: long time. It's longer than most of us listening today 361 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 1: have spent in space. So we can't knock it that hard. 362 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: But we can also as will see, each successive mission 363 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 1: spent more and more time in the ink, uh, and 364 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: then the other things. Now it's classified, and now around 365 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: two thousand six or so, people in the public sphere 366 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 1: start asking more and more questions. Right, it's not just 367 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: niche aviation nerds or space nerds, uh, it's mainstream journalists 368 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 1: are are saying, hey, this is a lot of money, 369 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 1: what's going on? And this eventually, this eventually compels the 370 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 1: Secretary of the Air Force at the time, in two 371 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 1: thousand six two UH to make a public statement that 372 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: sounds really legit until you think about it. Oh yeah, 373 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:53,360 Speaker 1: The secretary said that this program, the X seven B program, 374 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: would be focused on quote, risk reduction, experimentation and operational 375 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: concept of evelopment for reusable space vehicle technologies in support 376 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: of long term developmental space objectives. Oh good, so we've 377 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:16,120 Speaker 1: solved it. Yeah, sure, long term developmental space objectives perfect. 378 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:21,880 Speaker 1: Which could be anything that is that that is not 379 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: happening this week? Yep, could be repair all the satellites. 380 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: That could mean that could be uh, could be figure 381 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: out how to launch telephone pole sized tungsten rods directly 382 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,479 Speaker 1: into enemy territory? Is that gonna be a rail dropper? 383 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,920 Speaker 1: Not a rod God Rod or Rod of God or 384 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 1: whatever they call it. Rot of God sounds like the 385 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: nickname is some guy who plays pool in Florida that 386 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: was gonna be a wrestler or and or a adult 387 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: film star. Yes, yeah, well it's still real work. Uh 388 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: So what we're saying is this description from secretary sounds 389 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: great until you realize just how vague every phrase in 390 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: that sentence actually is. Risk reduction can be defined by 391 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: any any number of cleverly spun uh definitions. Experimentation is 392 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,159 Speaker 1: a big word that leads a lot of things, and 393 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:26,720 Speaker 1: operational concept development for reusable space vehicle technologies. That's probably 394 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: the most specific and the least sketchy, but it still 395 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: is a big phrase that has a lot of stuff 396 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: under the umbrella. So when you hear that and you 397 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: unpack it and you start asking what does long term 398 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 1: objective mean here and you realize this is a little 399 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: bit of word wizardry, a little bit weasley, then you 400 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: have to ask yourself what do we actually know about 401 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:54,160 Speaker 1: this thing? And to answer that, uh, we're gonna we're 402 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: gonna pause for word from our sponsor, check with our 403 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: pals and Illumination Global Unlimited, and see what we can 404 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: say on air. Okay, we're back. That was an intense 405 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:19,879 Speaker 1: phone call, man. Yeah, yeah, they've been calling a lot. 406 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: It's something with my warranty on my vehicle. I I 407 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:28,040 Speaker 1: don't get it right right. Yeah. You know, if only 408 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: everyone could be as organized and tenacious as the good 409 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: folks who want you to get a warranty for something, 410 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: then the world would be a better place. Maybe a 411 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: little more intense, but a better place. The thing is, 412 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: we can blaze through part of this because you know, 413 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: even if this ends up being a two parter, not 414 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: a lot of it is going to be spent on 415 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 1: what we know about the X thirty seven B as 416 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: a craft, as a project, as a series of missions, 417 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,120 Speaker 1: because there's not a lot out there. They're serious about 418 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: the classification, and there's not a Snowden esque or a 419 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:08,639 Speaker 1: Chelsea Manning esque figure. There's no Julian Assange leaking this 420 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: stuff out yet. So we can give you like, um, 421 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 1: we can give you basically the meta data of these missions. 422 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:19,639 Speaker 1: We can tell you how long each of the six 423 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,679 Speaker 1: missions were. We can tell you the again pretty vague 424 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: statements by authorities about what happens there. Um. You can 425 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: find a lot of the external specs for the craft online, 426 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,640 Speaker 1: like that's that's not a secret again because everybody can 427 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,719 Speaker 1: see it, which makes it different from some other secret 428 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,679 Speaker 1: space vehicles. Uh, but you're not going to find a 429 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: lot about the content of the missions or the content 430 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: of that payload. That's the that's sort of the holy 431 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: grail of all the conspiracy surrounding this. Yeah, you can 432 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: get some information that is super vague, like we're testing 433 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: this one thing about fuels and and converting energy from 434 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 1: the sun into energy we can beam back down to Earth. 435 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,400 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, stuff like that. You can get information 436 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 1: like that, and it's pretty cool, but mostly it's a 437 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: black box in there, and it's a relatively tiny black box. 438 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:23,160 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, we should talk about that, like the Okay, 439 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: so the whole thing picture of the X three seven 440 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: in your mind. Take one of those sts craft and 441 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: just shrink it down, make it all Kauai and cute 442 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: ce in your head. Maybe some googly eyes maybe the 443 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: best way. He starts to think about the Space Shuttle. 444 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: So let's go back to the Atlantis Space Shuttle, last 445 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: one that was ever flown or you know, launched. Its 446 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: length is a little over a hundred and twenty two ft. 447 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: What about this thing? Uh, this would be around twenty 448 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: nine ft or a little under nine meters. Wow, that's 449 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: quite a bit smaller. What about the wingspan? Space Shuttle 450 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: is seventy eight feet roughly, right, and this one has 451 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: a wingspan of a little less than fifteen feet, So 452 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: smaller by every measure. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, we 453 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: don't have to go through all the specs, but let 454 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: me just give you this number. The weight at lift 455 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: off for the Space Shuttle is around four million, five 456 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty one thousand pounds, and on the launch pad. 457 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: The scrappy little X thirty seven B weighs in it 458 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: eleven thousand pounds, very much a welter weight in the 459 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: world of space races. Dude, there's your money right there. Yeah, 460 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: you're saving so much already because you don't have to 461 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: bring all the all the crap that humans need. You know, 462 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: this is okay. So this is a comparison for the 463 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: parents in the crowd. If you've ever been the guardian 464 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: of a very young child and you have to you 465 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: have to go through this series like this series of 466 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 1: checklist whenever you go on a long trip, right, I know, 467 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 1: you remember those days where it's like, is it like 468 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: launching a ship? Almost? Do you have to go through 469 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: and make sure like you got the snacks, You've got 470 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: the definite stuff we need to stuff that you have 471 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: no idea yet, you have no concept yet. But you'll 472 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 1: get there. You're gonna I have a faith you're gonna 473 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: get there one day. Don't put that on me, brou 474 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: But but yeah, so, so you're confirming that comparison holds. 475 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 1: We can also say, uh yeah, from any given perspective 476 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: at this point, this is a good idea, right, because 477 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: again we've removed the most onerous part of any space exploration, 478 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: which is taking Terran's long for the ride. We also 479 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: know that this, uh, these two x thirty seven's, if 480 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: you put them all together, they've done six orbital missions. 481 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: And six doesn't sound a lot until you realize this 482 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: means they have spent a combined three thousand, seven hundred 483 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: and seventy four point four days in space. That's more 484 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: than ten years altogether. Wow, that's just incredible. You know 485 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: the only thing I have had to compare to here 486 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: is that Space Shuttle been and I think about STS one, 487 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: the last one that was ever flown. It only lasted 488 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: from July until July one. That's all like, seriously, twelve 489 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: ish days up in space. And that's what you get 490 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,080 Speaker 1: for four hundred fifty million dollars. And that's still amazing. 491 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:46,479 Speaker 1: It's amazing. But if you're a large military, you know, 492 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: let's say an institution or a combination all those things, 493 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: or the Pentagon, and you're thinking, well, what's what's the 494 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: bang for the buck thing we can get right here? 495 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: Oh wait, wait, how long have these things been flying? 496 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 1: How many years in space? Okay, yeah, we'll take that exactly. 497 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: And and the X thirty seven. Look, it's neat to watch. 498 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,360 Speaker 1: You know, we're again, we're a couple of space nerves ourselves. 499 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: So we can separate some of the problems for at 500 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: least long enough to say, how cool is this? Like 501 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 1: a space shuttle, your typical X thirty seven B will 502 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 1: take off vertically and it is propelled by a rocket, 503 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,640 Speaker 1: so it leaves the ground just like an STS. Uh. 504 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: It can maneuver on its own. That's one of the 505 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,440 Speaker 1: big winds over satellite. And eventually when it lands on Earth, 506 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: it lands kind of like a conventional plane, much less 507 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: graceful than a typical plane designed for flying in Earth's atmosphere. 508 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: But it hits a runway, you know, it's got the wheels, 509 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 1: and it lands and no one, no one is there. 510 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 1: I mean, of course, there are hundreds of people on 511 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,320 Speaker 1: the ground who are freaking out and hoping they don't 512 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: wreck the cool toy. But they're doing a great job 513 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 1: and it's amazing. Uh. And now I think we set 514 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: it up. Man, We got to talk about that that 515 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 1: holy grail of this thing, the golden goose, that payload, 516 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: that little payload area. Yeah, because on the shuttle you've 517 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 1: got like most of the shuttle is a payload area 518 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: that opens up, and your big equipment is inside there 519 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: and you can want release it into orbit. That was 520 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: really one of the main things that did. Uh. The 521 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: same thing with this X thirty seven B. It's just 522 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: much smaller in scale. It can open up and then 523 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: you've got basically the equivalent of I don't know, I 524 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: guess your standard pick up that's rolling around, your regular 525 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: sized pickup truck. You can open up, you've got that 526 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: and you can launch. You know, Satellites come into a 527 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:47,560 Speaker 1: lot of sizes. Some of them are very very small, 528 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 1: so you could fit a number of them in there 529 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: if you wanted to. Yeah, yeah, get it up there. 530 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 1: Basically you're taking a pickup trucks worth of stuff between 531 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty five miles above Earth. It's no 532 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: small feet. Even though it does sound weird to talk 533 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: about all this money, all this research and to tell 534 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: you it is essentially to get about a truck's worth 535 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 1: of stuff off the planet. But did it six times, 536 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: you know, for years at a time. Pretty cool. We 537 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,839 Speaker 1: can also confirm two official purposes of the project. These 538 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,440 Speaker 1: are the only official purposes that have been stated. Developing 539 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:33,760 Speaker 1: reusable technology. Right, that's huge. Every private or public entity 540 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:38,120 Speaker 1: that is exploring space today is going harden the paint 541 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: on making reusable stuff because early space launches were so 542 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,600 Speaker 1: incredibly wasteful. Uh. And then their second thing is we 543 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: want to be able to operate our experiments and we 544 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: want to return those experiments to Earth so that we're 545 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 1: not just reliant on whatever remote surveillance or communication we 546 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 1: have with the craft. I almost called it the entity, 547 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: So I just rewatched event Horizon again. Every time we 548 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,359 Speaker 1: talk about this thing, I'm like straight to Event Horizon. Uh. 549 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes aliens, sometimes the Alien franchise. Yeah, what if it 550 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: catches something up there in its cargo bay, just hanging out? 551 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 1: Love it bis things up man. Maybe not everything is terrible. 552 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: Maybe it's a cool. Maybe it's like a virus that 553 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,480 Speaker 1: does something good for the planet, like a real ferbi, 554 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: like a real furbiby just so just so. Or maybe 555 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: it's maybe it's something that is just shockingly irrelevant, right, 556 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: something like lax a lox very irrelevant. What's it gonna do? 557 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: Just tell people, tell people that everything's Oh god, can 558 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: you imagine the the corporate funded oppositional media to that, 559 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,360 Speaker 1: Like he claims to speak from the for the trees, 560 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:05,160 Speaker 1: Then why is he from space? You know what I mean? 561 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: And then like a photo of him, a photo of 562 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: him at Cape Canaveral, all of a sudden goes to 563 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,319 Speaker 1: black and white and the music shifts down and then 564 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 1: it does that grainy close up. Can you imagine the 565 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 1: Lorax with like TMZ after him? Oh god? The Lorax 566 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: has never publicly denied allegations that he's taken non consensual 567 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: pictures of of cheet defeat or something. No, no, no, 568 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,160 Speaker 1: we're keeping it in, keeping it in. But yeah, yeah, 569 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: So that's the thing that kind of speculation, as much 570 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:45,000 Speaker 1: fun as we're having with it, only continues because we 571 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: don't know what's in the space truck. Basically, uh, the 572 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: Air Force describes these things. So you set this up 573 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,840 Speaker 1: so perfectly when you said, you know, for every mission, 574 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,600 Speaker 1: you can typically find a vague description what they would 575 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:06,240 Speaker 1: call a high level description of what they're doing and from. 576 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,360 Speaker 1: For them, it's always testing stuff. Let's test flight systems, 577 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: let's let's see how well our insulation and thermal protection works. 578 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: Things like that. You know, the stuff you would expect 579 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,680 Speaker 1: and the stuff that is you know scientifically fascinating, but 580 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,160 Speaker 1: narrative wise, it's a turn off for a lot of 581 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:30,799 Speaker 1: people who think there's something more to the story. Well, 582 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,319 Speaker 1: do you want to talk about what we I don't 583 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 1: know what people think might be happening up there? Oh? Man, absolutely, 584 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: because that's the rest of this episode that might be 585 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,839 Speaker 1: a series. What we know is dwarfed by what we 586 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,520 Speaker 1: don't know here, and that goes for everybody who's not 587 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,319 Speaker 1: read on to some aspect of this classified project. The 588 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:57,920 Speaker 1: vast majority of the project's activities are secret. For several years, 589 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:03,279 Speaker 1: uh not knowle Mission Control doc Holiday and I and 590 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,640 Speaker 1: and and those of us listening at home have been 591 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,759 Speaker 1: asking the same questions, and tons of journalists have been 592 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 1: asking these questions. Scientists, engineers, the leaders of other countries 593 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,560 Speaker 1: are freaking out about this space truck, and they're saying, 594 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:20,879 Speaker 1: what the hell is that thing actually doing out there 595 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: in the ink? Rightly, so, it's it's a very reasonable question. 596 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,879 Speaker 1: But here's where it gets crazy. What do you think 597 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: should we start with? Uh? The maybe one of the 598 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:39,400 Speaker 1: original reasons satellites were so enticing to governments across the 599 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:44,320 Speaker 1: planet because you can spy with them. Yes, a spy 600 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,520 Speaker 1: in this guy. We mentioned this in earlier episode as 601 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,359 Speaker 1: well as a recent Strange News segment. A lot of 602 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 1: the speculation around this argues that X thirty seven B 603 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: is kind of is definitely a testing ground for reusable 604 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,520 Speaker 1: but it's more importantly a testing ground for new era 605 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:08,560 Speaker 1: of surveillance and spy tech. Not the cool toys from 606 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:13,359 Speaker 1: like the eighties or nineties, but actual spy tech. Better sensors, right, 607 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:20,239 Speaker 1: better cameras, writ better telemetry and and SIG and interception, 608 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:22,520 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Well, yeah, think about it. If 609 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,879 Speaker 1: you've got new tech that you want to send up there, 610 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,280 Speaker 1: but you you know, you've got a budget, a fairly 611 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,000 Speaker 1: hefty budget, but it's not insane, and you want to 612 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:33,719 Speaker 1: make maybe a smaller version of the big thing you 613 00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 1: want to create, or you want to test out your 614 00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: tiny optics thing, whatever it is, whatever tech you've got, 615 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,440 Speaker 1: send it up on one of these guys, and you 616 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,719 Speaker 1: can you can have a full year long test or 617 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,439 Speaker 1: longer if you want to see how well your new 618 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: stuff does when it's just orbiting around for a while. 619 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:57,560 Speaker 1: That's that could be invaluable. Yeah, that's the thing. It's 620 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:02,239 Speaker 1: the most mysterious truck badge in the galaxy right in 621 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,759 Speaker 1: the universe right now. Uh. And I know maybe I'm 622 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,160 Speaker 1: leaning a little too hard into the idea of a 623 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,319 Speaker 1: truck bed, but it really is about that size. And 624 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,880 Speaker 1: that means that outside of a few a few confirmed 625 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:22,240 Speaker 1: experiments like the idea of converting solar energy or seeing 626 00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:26,279 Speaker 1: how seeds grow right in space, uh, we can't say 627 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,560 Speaker 1: much else. We can say we know that there are 628 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:38,560 Speaker 1: also certain there are no humans in that in that 629 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,359 Speaker 1: cargo bay. Like imagine spending two years in the back 630 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: of a pickup truck. Yeah, that's a lot of just 631 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,439 Speaker 1: like just a line of soil and green that goes 632 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: in to like in one end and then recycles. I 633 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,799 Speaker 1: don't know how that would work. I don't think it's 634 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,800 Speaker 1: a space coffin. Yeah, but if so, when you're thinking 635 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:04,960 Speaker 1: about this raft and spy technology, you have to imagine 636 00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:09,680 Speaker 1: it could be spying on the ground, right, It could 637 00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:13,080 Speaker 1: also be spying on the other things that are orbiting 638 00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:16,239 Speaker 1: around up there. So imagine if you parked this thing 639 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,759 Speaker 1: within the vicinity of another satellite that let's say a 640 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:26,160 Speaker 1: rival country owns and operates, they would probably see the 641 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,080 Speaker 1: X thirty seven B saddle up next to it. And 642 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:32,480 Speaker 1: be like, did do you just hanging out around oman? 643 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:39,560 Speaker 1: Everything's fine, We're cool. They would notice. But again, it 644 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:45,120 Speaker 1: how I guess you could prove somehow, Uh if you 645 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:47,960 Speaker 1: did some kind of forensics, like network forensics on the 646 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,880 Speaker 1: machine itself that's in the sky. I just don't know 647 00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,359 Speaker 1: how you'd be able to prove it that easily. If 648 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 1: you if the X thirty seven B was like straying 649 00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:58,920 Speaker 1: up next to one of these things and hacking into it, 650 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,400 Speaker 1: let's say, yeah, you would. You the burden of proof 651 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:07,440 Speaker 1: would be higher, but it would be enough for folks 652 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:11,040 Speaker 1: who felt like they were being attacked or spied upon 653 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:15,440 Speaker 1: to react swiftly. You know what you would do. This 654 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: is what you would do, Ben, It's brilliant. If you 655 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:22,560 Speaker 1: really wanted to do that action, you would. You'd take 656 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:27,400 Speaker 1: the original concept of putting the X thirty seven B 657 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:30,560 Speaker 1: inside the big shuttle. It would just be a nesting 658 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,640 Speaker 1: doll situation where now you've got the smaller X thirty 659 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,760 Speaker 1: seven B, but inside it's cargo bay is an even 660 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:40,400 Speaker 1: tinier version of it, and you can then have the 661 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: X thirty seven B, you know, be in an operational 662 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,400 Speaker 1: location at all times and the little one could leave 663 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,000 Speaker 1: and go do its spying wherever you wanted it to do, 664 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,319 Speaker 1: and you could always say, as the government, no, the 665 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:58,720 Speaker 1: X thirty seven B was wa over here above the UK. Uh. Yeah, 666 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,839 Speaker 1: divide and conquer. I see what you're saying. Yeah, And 667 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:03,799 Speaker 1: then you would then it would just be down to 668 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:08,360 Speaker 1: the diplomats in the check exactly, the great diplomats, the 669 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:12,840 Speaker 1: great pr firms of geopolitics. But I mean, that's honestly, 670 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:14,880 Speaker 1: that's not a bad idea. And it sounds like maybe 671 00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:17,120 Speaker 1: we're thinking a little bit out of the box, ro 672 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:19,680 Speaker 1: out of the truck bed here, But we assure you 673 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:26,080 Speaker 1: we're just spitballing, and our conversations are nowhere near as 674 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:31,160 Speaker 1: strange as the real conversations that have happened with billions 675 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:36,040 Speaker 1: of dollars on the table and just some gibrony taking 676 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,439 Speaker 1: a sharpie on the white board and it basically drawing 677 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,200 Speaker 1: a space cartoon and saying what if we tried this? 678 00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:46,520 Speaker 1: And people are seriously considering it. I mean, do check out, folks, 679 00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:50,000 Speaker 1: Please do check out our episodes on just all the 680 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:53,880 Speaker 1: Paul beat me here, Please all the weird that the 681 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:58,480 Speaker 1: US government specifically has poured millions of dollars into right, 682 00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:01,120 Speaker 1: they saw a hat and they were like, maybe it 683 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:06,520 Speaker 1: could spy on folks. I don't know. Did I want 684 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:08,759 Speaker 1: to be? I want to be the weird guy that 685 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,480 Speaker 1: strolls into skunk works or phantom works or whatever they 686 00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:15,400 Speaker 1: call it these days. At Bowing, it's just like, guys, 687 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:20,640 Speaker 1: but what if you put an even smaller one in it, 688 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:25,279 Speaker 1: a smaller cat. This man is a genius, I know. 689 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:27,479 Speaker 1: I want. That's what we want to be. We want 690 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:32,280 Speaker 1: to be the idea guys for DARPA, the idea guys 691 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,279 Speaker 1: in those in those rooms with the high muckety MUCKs. 692 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:38,359 Speaker 1: I want to be able to to uh make unreasonable 693 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 1: requests that I don't necessarily have to back up because 694 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,160 Speaker 1: it's all R and D. I want to walk in 695 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:48,840 Speaker 1: and be like, uh, I need four thousand toes by Thursday, 696 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,399 Speaker 1: and I want the only question to be like, well, 697 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:54,440 Speaker 1: what kind of toes? Human toes or any toes. I 698 00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:59,960 Speaker 1: don't have time to break this down for you, national Security, 699 00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:02,520 Speaker 1: just say like it's like tagging base. Just say national 700 00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 1: security and run away and wait for the toes. So 701 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,200 Speaker 1: many pictures in my head about toes right now, just 702 00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:12,919 Speaker 1: like yeah, sorry, now with the with the cheetah feet thing. 703 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 1: That's too much. That's a no, no Elbows. It doesn't matter. 704 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:22,520 Speaker 1: You could go ahead and say I need every model 705 00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 1: T that's still runs, and I need it by Friday, 706 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:30,560 Speaker 1: and I don't have time for your insipid questions. You're 707 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:36,600 Speaker 1: gonna be the best almost evil billionaire, you know, right 708 00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:38,960 Speaker 1: on the edge. Just like I'm not sure what he's 709 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:43,160 Speaker 1: doing with all those bottle t s. He's doing something. Well. 710 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:45,759 Speaker 1: I think I think we would need to move as 711 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:48,440 Speaker 1: a unit, because then we can have each other's backs. 712 00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:50,680 Speaker 1: You asked for something crazy, and then they'll be like, 713 00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:53,359 Speaker 1: to Ben, green light this, and then you'll say absolutely. 714 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:55,439 Speaker 1: And I'll do the same thing when they say to Matt, 715 00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:59,320 Speaker 1: green light this, and I'll say absolutely. He texted me earlier, 716 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:04,000 Speaker 1: he was like, we need all the dirigibles. Oh John 717 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,319 Speaker 1: Hodge would be so upset. Oh yeah, no, we gotta 718 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,680 Speaker 1: keep one for the Hodge uh, which is barely is 719 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,480 Speaker 1: Dick Nave. But look, folks, this is going to have 720 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:14,759 Speaker 1: to be a two part episode for us. We have 721 00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:17,040 Speaker 1: only scratched the surface. We did need to give you 722 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:19,720 Speaker 1: the history and the development as far as is known 723 00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:22,480 Speaker 1: in the public sphere. Uh, And we gave you really 724 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:26,880 Speaker 1: an overview of the publicly available knowledge about X thirty 725 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:29,960 Speaker 1: seven B. But we only got to one of the theories, 726 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,320 Speaker 1: and it's by far the most tame theory. So please 727 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,200 Speaker 1: tune in for our next episode where we returned to 728 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:41,279 Speaker 1: space Ghost Part two, the X thirty seven B. I 729 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,279 Speaker 1: don't know why I called it space ghost. It kind 730 00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,920 Speaker 1: of is, well, sort of, it's on a spiritual journey. 731 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:52,239 Speaker 1: You know, spiritual journeys last for a while, sometimes year, 732 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: sometimes a lifetime. Maybe the X thirty seven B is 733 00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,960 Speaker 1: just on a real long spiritual journey and maybe you know, 734 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:00,759 Speaker 1: now that I think about it, there is a great 735 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:07,080 Speaker 1: point map because, uh, could you say that an object 736 00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:14,520 Speaker 1: or an entity remotely controlled or steered is possessed? Like, 737 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:19,920 Speaker 1: what's the difference there other than the religious connotations? Whoa man, 738 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:22,840 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to ask whatever 739 00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 1: is animating this avatar. We'll see what they come back with. 740 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:30,280 Speaker 1: And in the meantime, we want to hear your thoughts. 741 00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:34,840 Speaker 1: Are you or have you ever been affiliated with the 742 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:38,279 Speaker 1: X thirty seven B with Boeing and Phantom Works or 743 00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:41,640 Speaker 1: something like it, like Lackeys skunk works. What can you 744 00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:44,759 Speaker 1: tell us about it, you know, without violating your n 745 00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:48,400 Speaker 1: d A S or your personal safety. Uh, just a 746 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,560 Speaker 1: peek behind our proverbial curtain here, folks. We got a 747 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:56,640 Speaker 1: lot of responses on our series for security clearances and 748 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,439 Speaker 1: federal classification. We we hit a nerve at a good way. 749 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 1: We want to thank everybody who took the time to 750 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:06,640 Speaker 1: write in. We also, uh, we also just have to say, 751 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:11,080 Speaker 1: be surprised by how many people end up touching projects 752 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,239 Speaker 1: like these just because of the magnitude. So let us know. 753 00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:18,320 Speaker 1: We try to be easy to find online Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. 754 00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,680 Speaker 1: If you don't like those, because you listen to our 755 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:25,200 Speaker 1: episodes on big data and surveillance, we got your back. 756 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:27,919 Speaker 1: There are a couple other ways to contact us. Oh yes, 757 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:32,719 Speaker 1: there are so many. The first one is to contact 758 00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:36,640 Speaker 1: us fourth dimensionally through the book Holidays are here. It 759 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:40,480 Speaker 1: is time you should get one. Get a couple, alright, 760 00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,960 Speaker 1: some for your for your friends and family. Spread the stuff. 761 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,640 Speaker 1: They don't want you to know. Every everybody will like it. 762 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:51,360 Speaker 1: Spread it like a lower X virus, you know, especially 763 00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:53,600 Speaker 1: if you like this episode on the kind of government 764 00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,160 Speaker 1: you know, projects and things like that. That's really what 765 00:48:56,200 --> 00:48:58,680 Speaker 1: the book focuses on. So if you like this episode, 766 00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:01,919 Speaker 1: definitely check the book in audiobook out. Oh yeah, yeah, 767 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,359 Speaker 1: the audio book slaps as well. Or at least we 768 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:09,000 Speaker 1: really enjoyed that experience. Uh. You can also if this 769 00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,319 Speaker 1: isn't a bridge too far, you can also always just 770 00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:16,040 Speaker 1: drop this line. If you happen to be in Atlanta, 771 00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:19,200 Speaker 1: in our hometown haunt. Uh and who knows we might 772 00:49:19,239 --> 00:49:21,799 Speaker 1: be able to like grab coffee or something like that. 773 00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:23,640 Speaker 1: I don't know, Matt, what do you think that too far? 774 00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:25,680 Speaker 1: I think too much of a door? I think let's 775 00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:28,880 Speaker 1: do it. Ben. Who's your friend? You have a friend 776 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:32,200 Speaker 1: who came to the book event who makes custom t 777 00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:36,720 Speaker 1: shirts and hats and things like that. Oh, Harold, Yeah, yeah, 778 00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:40,239 Speaker 1: he's awesome. He made a post with a I think 779 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:42,920 Speaker 1: it was a design for the local the other day 780 00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:46,760 Speaker 1: where it said underneath the design that was created, it said, 781 00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:53,200 Speaker 1: at least we never served seltzer seltzer No, I like 782 00:49:53,239 --> 00:49:57,879 Speaker 1: a seltzer, an alcoholic seltzer or whatever. Right. I can't 783 00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:01,200 Speaker 1: even remember how many hard seltzers there are, but I 784 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:05,200 Speaker 1: assume there are a lot. Uh, maybe I don't know, 785 00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:08,200 Speaker 1: or they're more satellites in the sky or more Seltzer brands, 786 00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:13,319 Speaker 1: probably still more satellites. Surely, surely you can't do the 787 00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:18,000 Speaker 1: idea of Seltzer more than four thousand times. Well okay, well, 788 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:20,440 Speaker 1: if you work in the Seltzer biz uh, and you 789 00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,000 Speaker 1: get you want to go off record, why not? Why 790 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:28,160 Speaker 1: not give us a call? Uh Matt, you especially uh me, 791 00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:33,719 Speaker 1: maybe ten percent, But that does the work listening to 792 00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:36,960 Speaker 1: these phone calls. We get these amazing messages. We text 793 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:40,359 Speaker 1: each other about them. And the only uh pro tip 794 00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:42,719 Speaker 1: that I would give before we tell you our phone 795 00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:47,080 Speaker 1: number is that be careful because sometimes the abyss calls back. Yeah, 796 00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:49,240 Speaker 1: every once in a while, I spoke to some wonderful 797 00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:53,600 Speaker 1: people over the Thanksgiving break. There lots and lots of people, 798 00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:57,640 Speaker 1: specifically one person who's having I think right around now 799 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:01,440 Speaker 1: when this episode comes out, having an anniverse sory. So congratulations, 800 00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:05,359 Speaker 1: uh to you, sir and too. I won't say your name, 801 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:08,520 Speaker 1: I won't say any of their names. Congratulations and happy anniversary. 802 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:13,640 Speaker 1: Happy anniversary to you and to everyone celebrating an anniversary 803 00:51:13,640 --> 00:51:15,480 Speaker 1: in fact, but to you especially, We're not going to 804 00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:18,640 Speaker 1: say your name to preserve your anonymity. Well, we know 805 00:51:18,719 --> 00:51:24,640 Speaker 1: you're listening. Have a good one. Yes, you can call 806 00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:28,200 Speaker 1: one three st d w y t K three minutes. 807 00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:29,799 Speaker 1: It's a voicemail. Let us know if we can use 808 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:32,480 Speaker 1: your name and message on the air. If you don't 809 00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:35,360 Speaker 1: like voicemails and phones, why not instead send us a 810 00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:38,960 Speaker 1: good old fashioned email. We are conspiracy at iHeart radio 811 00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:59,920 Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff they don't want you to know. Is 812 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,960 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 813 00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,080 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, 814 00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:08,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.